Mother Nature is giving local farmers a hard time this season.
The fields at Eek Farms in King Township received at least half-an-inch of rain since early Monday morning.
The colder weather and lack of sunshine resulted in a late start for many farmers across the province, and now it’s a waiting game for farmers at Eek Farms who have 2.5-million onion seedlings ready to be planted.
“You don’t want to be putting that stuff in the ground, or put transplants in the ground, that you’re also spending tens of thousands of dollars on,” says Avia Eek. “Just to put them in the ground and have diseases get in because it’s too cold or wet.”
The Eeks agree that a week of full sunshine would make all the difference.
At Barrie Hill Farms, limited asparagus is ready to buy, but meeting demand is challenging. “It’s been slow.” Morris Gervais says that asparagus is gone as soon as they can get it and that means folks may be reaching deeper into their wallets this holiday weekend. “I think you’re going to see prices higher than you’d normally see them at the peak of the season.”
Barrie Hill Farms is scheduled to have their Strawberry Festival the weekend of June 22, but with the late start to the season, it’s again all up to Mother Nature.
